Apple AirPort Extreme – How to replace the faulty WIFI card of apple airport extreme – Laptop repair and service

Category: Laptop Repair and Service

Contents of this article

How to remove the case

How to remove the motherboard

How to replace the WIFI card

Apple AirPort Extreme

First start by peeling off the outer rubbery
covering on the bottom of the device. CAUTION: This part is very fragile, so it
is recommended that a blow dryer is used on the covering to heat it up. Simply
blow dry the covering while slowly peeling it away, and the covering will not
tear.

After removing the rubber covering, unscrew
the five 4.9mm Phillips screws in the holes of the plastic casing.

After unscrewing all five screws, remove the
plastic casing. The back should now look like the picture shown.

The inner metal casing is latched inside the
outer white plastic shell, so insert a pry tool underneath the metal casing and
pry it apart from the shell. It should make a click when it comes apart.

Remove the outer casing. The exposed logic
board should look like this. Take the device out of the casing and orient it so
that you can see the WiFi card.

Wires come from the three antennas and
connect on the outer edge of the WiFi card. Carefully pull up on the end of one
of the wires to disconnect it from the motherboard. Do this for the remaining
two wires.

There are two clips attached to the upper and
lower ends of the WiFi card CAUTION: For the following step, do not pull the
clip after you have detached it. The clip is fragile and too much force may
cause the clip to break. Grab the end of one of the clips and pull away from
the WiFi card. This should make the clip visibly detached from the WiFi card.
Do the same for the other clip.

Grasp the upper and lower ends of the WiFi
card. Carefully pull the WiFi card to the right. CAUTION: Do not pull UP
(towards yourself) on the WiFi card when removing. The card is on a track that only allows it to move left and right.
Forcing the card to move in other directions may result in breaking the track.
Completely remove the WiFi card.